timothy joseph coffey



I T: COFFEY. AUTOMOBILE SIGNALING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FI LED MAY10| l9l8.

Patented July 1, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I .K TTDENIZY':

Patented July 1, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 .ATI URNEY:

'den'ce'and State of I vented anew; and useful Improvement 1n AutomobileSignaling Devices, of which the STATES- AT N orrron.

trnrrormr'Josnrn corner, or nasr rnovrnnncn, monn 'IsLAnn.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, TIMOTHY J ossrn Gor- FEY, acitizen of the UnitedStates, residing at. East Providence,

Rhode Island, have infollowing isaspecification.

, In the use of automobiles having no signaling device, 'it is a common,crude andawkward practice for the driver to'hold out hisarm toindicate'that he intends to stop and to oint with his handto theright orleft to s ow" in which. direction he intends to go, when approaching amain or cross street.

The object of my invention is'to provide an automobilewith a signalingdevice hav i ing a stop and direction indicator'at the-rear. and adirection indicator at the front, "all operated from the steering columnby the driver, at aminimum effort and loss of time.

vFurther objects'of my invention are to I simplify the construction andoperation, and

' reduce the cost of manufacturing sucha signaling-device forautomobiles.

, My invention consists in the peculiar and novel constr'uctlon of asignaling device for automobiles, said signaling device having adirection indicator at'the front and a stop .--so

.in bro en lines, also and direction indicator at the back of the car,both indicators being operated from the steering column, said signalingdevice having details of construction, as will be more fully set forthhereinafter and claimed.

F1gures11-and2 are front and rear views of [an automobile provided withmy improved automobile Fig-. 3 is a diagrammaticsideview -il1us- 7tratingthelay-out of the signaling device in full lines and indicatingautomobile in broken lines.

signaling device.

Fig. iis'aface view of the rearindicator showing the hand inits raisedposition indicatmg that thecar is going to stop, the arrow in its raisedposition indicatmg that the car is oing' to theright, and with thearrow" indicating that the arrow it indicates when thecar: is to go tothe le.'--

in the county of 'Proviview taken on ,line 8.8 of down on the threeindicator operating latches of the lower ing the usual steering column13 and rear body end 14.

the side-view'of the and secured at the nu'romonun sreimnme nnvrcn iSpecification orletters Patent.

line 5.5 of Fig. 4 of the rear indicator, with thesignal hand and arrowin-their normal downward position, in the frame of the indicator. i 1

4 Fig.6 is a side View of a steering column showing the indicatoroperating latches on atented July 1, 1919. Application filed lay in, ma,"Seria1No.233,71 4.

the steering column and one of the latches partly in section.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view partly in section showing the upperportion of one of the latches in its raised'or signaling position. 'Fig.8 is an enlarged transverse sectional .Fig. 6, looking in'the indicatoroperating mechanism on the steering column, and

- F'g. 9 is an enlarged detail sectional view portion of an indicator,showing a modified'means of ing'arrows in their downward'normal posi--tions against lateral movement of the arrows.

In the drawings 10 bile and 11 my mechanically operated automobilesignaling device, the automobile havradiator frame 12-on the front,

My improved automobile signaling-device 11 consists principally of afront direction lndicator 15 secured to the radiator frame 12, a rearstop and direction indicator 16 secured to the rear body'end 14 of thecarand an indicator operating mechanism --17 on the steering column 13,the stop signal and the direction signals in both front and rearindicators being operatively connected tolatches in the indicatoroperating mechanism-17 on the steering column 13 by wires, as indicatedpin-Fig.3. Y Q" I I Therearjstop and direction indicator 16 j consistsof aframe 18-closed on the front, back, top and bottom and open on'thesides 14 of the car. A stop signal 19 in the form toa stud 20 on theinside of the front of the frame 18, and the wrist end carries a'shortend to the end'of the lever '21. i This wire 22 holding the indicat-'indicates an autoino- I back-to therear body end I .of a hand ispivotally secured at its wrist end side lever21. A wire 22 isconnected-at one der the car, then around pulleys, 23.23 and upto theindicating operating mechanism 17 where the end of the wire is attachedto the lower end of a central latch 35 in the indicator operatingmechanism 17, as indicated' in Fig. 3.

form of an arrow is pivotally secured at its inner end to a stud 25 onthe back of the frame and has a cross-arm 26. A wire 27 is connected atone end to the right hand end of the cross-arm. This wire 27extends'down through a hole in the bottom of the casing,

around pulleys 23.23, under the car, to a coil spring 43 and then aroundpulleys 23.23 and up to the indicator operating mechanism 17 where theend of the wireis attached to the lower end of a left hand latch 36 inthe operating mechanism17. A wire 28isconnected at one end to the lefthand end of the crossarm 26. This wire 28 extends down'through a hole inthe bottom of the casing-around pulleys 23.23, under the car, thenaround pulleys 23.23'and up tothe indicator operating mechanism 17 wherethe end of the wire is attached to the lower end of a right .hand

latch 37 in the operating mechanism 17.

- The front direction indicator 15' is secured to the radiator frame '12and is exactly the same as the rear indicator 16, except that the stopsignal 19 is omitted. The wires from the direction signal 24 in thefront indicator 15 are connected right and left to the] 4 right and leftlatches in-the indicator opy or left.

crating mechanism 17 as described for the rear indicator 1 6, and theoperation of a right or left latch will indicate both front and rearthat the car is going to the right Each indicator frame 18 has an openin29 in the front' and secured back of eac opening to the frame 18 is anelectric lamp I 30 having referably a green light and'coneither to stopor go in another; direction.

nected by t e usual wires 31. 31, and switch 32 to a battery 33, asindicated in Fig. 3'.

With the stopand direction signals down in the frame infront of thelamps, thelight is cut ofi from the openings 29.29.-

When the signals are raised the green light shines through the openings29.29, and signals both front and rear that the car is The signal lightsmay be arranged so as to reflect on the signals when the'signals areraised.

The indicator operating mechanism 17 consists of a latch frame 34clamped to the steering column 13 and having a central latch 35, a righthand latch 36 and a left.

hand latch 37, each slidably supported in guideways 38.38 in the latchframe 34, as shown in Fig. 6. Each latch'has'a hookshaped upper fingerend 39 and a pawl 40 pivotally secured at its upper end in the undersideof the stem of thelatch in a position to dropout by gravity and catch ondirection signal 24 in the from the scope of the ap'pendedclaims.

latch 35, the direction signals 24.24 at the front and rear are operatedby pulling up either the right or left latches 36 or 37 to indicate thatthe car is goin either to the right or left,;the give of t e coilsprings 43.43 allows the one direction signal to be raised to either theright or left and the sig nals are released and dro .doWn into their'40.40 in the latches, thereby allowing the latches to drop down bygravity in the latch frame 34.

It is evident that my improved signaling-'90 device could be applied toany kind of a;*

road vehicle, the signaling wires could inclosed in pipes and otherdetails of construction could be varied without departing Having thusdescribed my invention I claim as new:-

1.' In an automobile, asignaling device comprisi 'an indicator frameopen on the sides and aving an intermediate partition supporting a lamp,a stop signal in the form of a hand pivotally. secured to a stud in theframe, a direction signal in the form of an arrow pivotally secured to astud in the frame and having a T shaped cross-arm on its .pivot end acwire operatively connected to the stop signal,'a wire having anintermediate coil spr ing connection operatively con nected to one endof the cross arm on the direction signal, a wire having an intermediatecoilspring connection operatively connecte. to the other 'end of thecross arm on the rection signal, means for operating t e wires, 9. stopsignal lamp in the indicator frame, said indicator frame having anopening in front of the lamp, whereby when the stop signal is down'it'closes the opening in front of the lamp and when the stop signal israised the light from the lamp -shows I 126 through the opening in theframe, thereby giving a light stop signal at night.

2. The combination with an automobile having a steering column 13 ofanautomobilesignalin device comprising a stop and direction indicatorframe 18, a stop signal 19 in the form of a hand pivotally secured to astud 20 in the frame 18, a direction signal 24 in the form of an arrowpivotally secured to a stud 25 in the frame 18 andhaving a cross-arm 26,a wire 22' operatively connected 13! frames by gravity, by pus ing inthe pawls cross-arm 26 on the direction signal 24 and having anintermediate coil spring 43,21 Wire 28 operatively connected to theother end of the arm 26 and having an intermediate coil spring 43, meansfor operating the Wires,

said indicatorv frame 18 having an opening 29 in the front and a lampback of the opening, as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

TIMOTHY JOSEPH COFFEY.

